Machine for applying high consistency fluids and semi solids to bakery and other products

ABSTRACT

A machine consisting of a metal framework holding a tubular dispensing valve having a longitudinal partition. High consistency fluids or semi-solids are pumped into the tube below the partition and through openings in the partition and out a plurality of nozzles in the tube located above the partition. Cutting blades are positioned along a shaft positioned above the dispensing valve for cutting furrows in articles prior to the depositing of a fluid or semi-solid in the furrows. Rotating shafts with protruding pins move the articles through the machine.

United States Patent m1 Griffith 51 Jan. 30, 1973 MACHINE FOR APPLYING HIGH CONSISTENCY FLUIDS AND SEMI- SOLIDS TO BAKERY AND OTHER PRODUCTS Walter L. Griffith, 51 E. Cavalier Road, Monroe County, NY. 10950 Filed: July 1, 1970 Appl. No.: 51,604

Inventor:

U.S.Cl ..118/15, 118/24 Int. Cl. ..B67d 3/00, A23g 3/20, B05c 5/00 Field of Search ...l 18/15, 24, 38', 222/485; 83/5;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1925 Andrus ..107/8 Craft ..144/238 UX Primary Examiner-John P. Mclntosh [57] ABSTRACT A machine consisting of a metal framework holding a tubular dispensing valve having a longitudinal partition. High consistency fluids or semi-solids are pumped into the tube below the partition and through openings in the partition and out a plurality of nozzles in the tube located above the partition. Cutting blades are positioned along a shaft positioned above the dispensing valve for cutting furrows in articles prior to the depositing of a fluid or semi-solid in the furrows. Rotating shafts with protruding pins move the articles through the machine.

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Griffith ..118/15 X PATENTEU JAN 3 0 I975 SHEET 1 OF 2 MACHINE FOR APPLYING HIGH CONSISTENCY FLUIDS AND SEMI-SOLIDS TO BAKERY AND OTHER PRODUCTS This invention relates to improvements in a machine for applying high consistency fluids and semi-solids on bakery products or other products or articles and is particularly concerned with a method which operates to deposit such fluids and semi-solids uniformly and in such a manner as to make processing and packaging both easy and immediate. The dispensing valve in this invention can be adjusted to compensate for a wide range of different viscosities and densities of various high consistency fluids and semi-solids. Further, it can be easily adjusted while in operation to redistribute the flow.

In an adjustable valve for dispensing high consistency fluids and semi-solids the present art is limited and little is known regarding the behavior of high consistency fluids and semi-solids under pressure. This invention adds to that limited knowledge. In addition, this invention sets forth a new method of buttering bread.

Further, it a method that lends itself to precise portion control.

This invention as disclosed herein comprises two bearing containing end plates which are held together by cross rods or bolts and is designed to automatically process a succession of bakery products or other products or articles which are continuously advanced and upon which a high consistency fluid or semi-solid is to be deposited. The articles enter the machine from the top two at a time and pass one on either side of circular cutting blades which cut furrows in the open face of the articles the desired distance apart and to the desired depth, continuing past the dispensing valve which deposits the selected substance in the furrows, then continuing on to be further processed or wrapped. In this disclosure bread and butter are the selected means for explaining the invention, with the bread being of the square sandwich variety passing continuously through the machine.

The sulcating device in this invention is constructed thusly: Using a rotary powered shaft, small circular saws are secured at an angle to the shaft the desired distance apart. The width of each furrow is regulated by the angle at which the saws are positioned. The number of saws coincides with the number of nozzles being used in the dispensing valve. The depth of the furrows is varied by raising or lowering the guide-guard which is positioned over the saws.

The dispensing valve in this invention is constructed thusly: A valve housing consisting of tubing that is sealed at one end except as hereinafter noted, has a partition dividing the internal area along the longitudinal axis creating two chambers, an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber, and the partition, where it is in contact with the housing, is in substantial sealing engagement. The partition consists of two parts, one slidably adjustable parallel and adjacent to' the other part, with portions of the partition removed from either side of both parts allowing the passage of material. The adjustable partition called a flow regulator is adjustably positioned to redistribute the flow of material. A threaded plug seals one end of the tube. The inlet end of the tube has'a flow disc that restricts flow to the inlet chamber, flow continuing through the partition into the discharge or outlet chamber and through discharge nozzles constructed in the housing parallel to the longitudinal axis.

The movement of the articles through the-machine is accomplished by rotating shafts that have protruding pins, each shaft turning inward and downward causing material that enters from the top to pass first the rotating saws and then the dispensing valve. In each end plate there are five bearings four of which are connected to the shafts containing the pins, the fifth bearing in each plate is a high speed bearing supporting the cutting shaft.

The present valve structure has associated with it.a supply source and a pressure system to deliver a continuous supply of the selected substance.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to-provide a machine that can automatically apply a high consistency fluid or semi-solid to bakery products or other products or articles and in such a manner as to make further processing or wrapping easy I and immediate. Another object is to provide a valve arbination of food products is presented.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, this invention consists of certain novel features of construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the claims, it being fully understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a horizontal view of the machine.

FIG. II is a sectional view taken on line 2a.

FIG. III is 'a horizontal view of end plate No. 1.

FIG. IV is a horizontal view of end plate No. la.

FIG. V is a view of the flow disc.

FIG. VI is a sectional, plan view of the dispensing valve.

FIG. VII is a sectional view of the sulcated bread with the cutting saws, showing also a high consistency fluid in one furrow.

In the drawings like reference numbers identify corresponding parts in all the figures. End plates 1 and la are held by bolts 2. Two slices of bread descend side by side between the end plates parallel to the bolts and are parted by the guide-guard 7 and are immediately engaged by the pins 8 protruding from the rotating shafts 4 and 4a which move the bread past the openings 6 in the guide-guard 7 past the circular saws 5 which rotate on a shaft 4b, which extends to a power source, the saws of which protrude through the openings in the guide-guard 7, cutting furrows 24 in the bread. The bread continues on to contact the nozzles 12 in the valve 3, which deposit a substance 26 into each furrow 24 made by the saws 5, and is againengagedby the pins 8 in the rotating shafts 4 and expelled.

Gears 9 are attached to the upper shafts 4 and 4a, one shaft 4a extending to a power source. Pulleys 10 are attached to the other ends of shafts 4 and 4a which are interconnected by 0 rings 21 as shown in FIG. 4.-

The power shaft 4a turns counterclockwise thereby causing all shafts having pins for moving the product through the machine to turn so that the product moves from the top down through the center of the machine.

FIG. II shows a sectional view of the guide-guard 7 surrounding the cutting saws 5, and the interior of the dispensing valve 3, which has two parts 13 and 14 to the longitudinal partition. The lower part is stationary while the upper part 13 is adjustable to redistribute the flow. Flow is directed initially through the opening 18 in the flow disc 17 as shown in FIG' V, into the lower chamber of the valve 3 then through openings 19 and 20 in the partition, filling the upper chamber 16 and out through the nozzles 12. The adjustment of the flow regulator 13 is affected by rotating the threaded plug 22, as shown in FIG. VI, right or left by means of the notch 23.

The flow regulator 13 has portions 20 removed along its edges intermediate its ends, coinciding with the portions 19 removed from the edges of the partition 14. The openings in the partition 14 are generally rectangular while the openings in the flow regulator 13 are tapered at a predetermined angle toward the edge at the inlet end and exceeding in length the opening in the partition 14.

FIG. III shows the regular bearings 11 and the high speed bearings 11a for the rotating shafts, with the gears 9 for moving material through the machine. There is an inlet end view also of the dispensing valve 3.

FIG. VII shows the saws as they cut the furrows in the open face of the sliced bread 2. The material 26 deposited in the furrow 24 is shown to the desired height.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A machine for incising and sulcating bread and other edible products, comprising a guide member having external, opposite sides diverging from one another from top to bottom, two rotary feed shafts disposed externally of said guide member adjacentthe opposite sides, respectively, thereof and having pins projecting radially therefrom to engage and feed slices of bread downwardly on said opposite sides of said guide member as said shafts rotate,

a plurality of rotary coaxial cutters mounted in said guide member and having their cutting portions projecting through slots in said opposite sides of said guide member to engage and cut grooves in the slices of bread as they move downwardly on said guide member, and dispenser disposed at the bottom of said guide member to deposit an edible substance in the grooves of the slices of bread as they are fed downwardly over said guide member past said dispenser.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said dispenser has a valve therein for controlling the amount of edible substance dispensed therefrom.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein said dispenser comprises a cylindrical housing having a supply opening in one end thereof adapted to be connected to a source of su 1 under ressure of said edible substance,

PPR P two pa itlon members mounted in said housing and extending axially thereof and one of which is mounted to be slidable axially on the other,

one of said partition members having an elongate opening at one lateral edge of uniform width from end to end,

the other partition member having an elongate opening at one lateral edge registering with the opening in said one partition member but being of triangular shape along its length and having its apex facing said supply opening,

means in the other end of said housing for adjusting one of said partition members on the other axially of said housing, and

a plurality of dispensing ports in said housing extending along a line generally parallel to its axis. 

1. A machine for incising and sulcating bread and other edible products, comprising a guide member having external, opposite sides diverging from one another from top to bottom, two rotary feed shafts disposed externally of said guide member adjacent the opposite sides, respectively, thereof and having pins projecting radially therefrom to engage and feed slices of bread downwardly on said opposite sides of said guide member as said shafts rotate, a plurality of rotary coaxial cutters mounted in said guide member and having their cutting portions projecting through slots in said opposite sides of said guide member to engage and cut grooves in the slices of bread as they move downwardly on said guide member, and a dispenser disposed at the bottom of said guide member to deposit an edible substance in the grooves of the slices of bread as they are fed downwardly over said guide member past said dispenser.
 1. A machine for incising and sulcating bread and other edible products, comprising a guide member having external, opposite sides diverging from one another from top to bottom, two rotary feed shafts disposed externally of said guide member adjacent the opposite sides, respectively, thereof and having pins projecting radially therefrom to engage and feed slices of bread downwardly on said opposite sides of said guide member as said shafts rotate, a plurality of rotary coaxial cutters mounted in said guide member and having their cutting portions projecting through slots in said opposite sides of said guide member to engage and cut grooves in the slices of bread as they move downwardly on said guide member, and a dispenser disposed at the bottom of said guide member to deposit an edible substance in the grooves of the slices of bread as they are fed downwardly over said guide member past said dispenser.
 2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said dispenser has a valve therein for controlling the amount of edible substance dispensed therefrom. 